McAdam: Even in defeat, Red Sox make their point

There are, to be sure, no moral victories in the standings. A loss is a loss, no matter how valiant the effort, how seemingly unfair the result. And, as the saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Still, even as the Red Sox' winning streak came to an end at Target Field, an inning after they had gamely erased a three-run deficit in the eighth, there was the feeling that there was virtue in defeat.

Quizzed about what appeared to be a "tough'' loss, Alex Cora pushed back.

"I don't think it was a tough game at all, to be honest with you,'' said Cora after the Minnesota Twins claimed a 4-3 walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth. "We came back. We were down 3-0 and we did everything possible to win that game. The 'tough' part, I don't agree with you. We ended up losing the game, on a jam shot to center field. That's not bad.

"We just beat the American League Central champions three of four. We've been playing good baseball. We had good at-bats, we tied the game. They ended up winning the game. But it's just another game. We didn't play great overall, but we did everything possible to win the game. That's what we take out of this one.''



It might be have easy for the Red Sox to feel a bit sorry for themselves. They had, indeed, fought back and pulled even, only to hand the lead back the following inning. But instead of wallowing in their misfortune, the Sox gave themselves some credit ... and moved on.

For seven innings, the Red Sox had been stymied by Michael Pineda. The same team which had averaged better than seven runs per contest over the course of their nine-game winning streak was limited to two singles -- one, the infield variety -- and one walk over the first seven innings.

But when Pineda was lifted, the Red Sox treated it like some sort of jail break. Immediately, the offense stirred as they managed to load the bases off a parade of Twins relievers. Alex Verdugo, in an epic at-bat, battled back from an 0-and-2 hole to run the count full, then barely hung on, fouling off pitch after pitch, before slapping an opposite-field double into the left field corner, scoring three and pulling the Sox even.

It didn't last on the scoreboard, but the comeback could linger with the Sox for a while and pay dividends later.

"Everybody shows up every single day, ready to win,'' said starter Garrett Richards, who had a battle of his own to get through a 37-pitch second inning and keep the Twins to just two unearned runs. "We're not just here to play a baseball game. We're here to win a game, every single day. It's a different vibe, it's a different feel, when you come to the field and everybody has the same collective thought. I've only been on a couple of teams like that. It's something that you recognize early on and it's really exciting.''

If nothing else, the Red Sox have served notice to the rest of the league that this year is different. These Red Sox will scrap and fight and come back. Not every game will yield a win, but to beat them, you will have your work cut out for you.

Twice, they've come back and won games in which they were trailing in the ninth inning. Of their nine wins, five have been comebacks.

Whether they've taken on the personality of their prodigal manager, or this is a manifestation of adding so many players from outside the organization, who knows?

But the gauntlet has already been thrown down.

Again, such statements of will won't help their won-loss record. But it's already evident that it's positively impacted their confidence.

"We're a team that's resilient,'' boasted Verdugo. "You can't go easy on us. We're going to fight.''

"This team stays in the moment,'' said Richards, "from the first pitch to the last pitch and then it's on to the next one. It's been special to kind of see that. I've only been on a few teams that have had that thought process, where it's, 'Oh, we got beat tonight, but we're going to win tomorrow, so it doesn't matter.' It's fun to be a part of. We're a confident group and we believe in our abilities and we're going to go out and try to win every single game.''

On Thursday, they fell short. But Friday already beckons.

"I told everybody, 'I know this was a tough one,' '' conceded Verdugo of the end of one winning streak, '' 'but another one starts tomorrow.'''